My Grandfather would have been 100 years old today! He passed away six years ago after a long, full life. (Here’s his bio.) I learned a lot from him. As the capstone to his 40+ years of ministry he wrote a book called Beyond Words. You can download a Kindle / eBook / pdf copy for free on the book’s website here: readbeyondwords.com.

I’ll leave writing my thoughts on how I interpret my Grandfather’s thoughts and how they impacted my views on life, leisure, work and meaning to some other day but below are some of my favorite excerpts. He held some really exciting, powerful, unorthodox views. Though, as he would say, he felt his views actually were — or should be — considered the orthodox. And though content with the impact of his ministry in the Berkshires, I know he also had ambitions of putting a louder speakerphone on his ideas.

There was no magic in it at all but the miraculous, the wondrous, the exciting were there and are with us still today. The more we understand, the more exciting it becomes.

* * * One must almost redefine every word which is used to avoid an expression which would be misunderstood

* * * I came to see how it is that GOD has spoken in every age not only to the prophets and sages but to everyone who will listen. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as consciousness and memory

* * * GOD expresses Himself to men and women in real ways not in magical shows. Getting rid of magic only lets the Truth shine through more clearly.

* * * Truth may be difficult but it is real and, if difficult, very exciting. It is exciting because it brings success and we know that magic never does.

* * * But what does the little word God mean? I believe that its meaning is beyond all limits; that its meaning is that which has no beginning and no end, that every bit of knowledge of truth which man has acquired in any branch of learning is a small part of the knowledge of the meaning of God. I believe that there is no conflict between religion and science but rather that real science is a part of true religion. If there is any apparent conflict between religion and science it is because the understanding of one or the other is wrong.”

* * * The simple faith that the answer can be found if, with the help of GOD, we look for it, is what Jesus was talking about. The other kind of “faith” is nonsense and we know it, and Jesus would be the first to tell us so.

* * * We would be better off to think of them as we think of the user’s manual a manufacturer sends to a buyer with a new product. It is good business to have buyers obey the rules in the instruction booklet so the product will work well. The fact that oil is messy and slimy stuff that we don’t like is no excuse for our failure to put it in the crankcase of our car.